The brigade leader came to inspect the educated youth's work. He walked along the field ridges, carefully observing the performance of each educated youth. When he saw that Lin Qian worked efficiently, quickly, and with high quality, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. He nodded and said, "This young lady is good. She works quite well; it seems she has put in the effort." His voice was full of praise, which made the surrounding educated youth cast envious glances at Lin Qian.
Meanwhile, Liu Cui and Su Yao were assigned to the same group, where an older woman would teach them. Liu Cui was never careful with her words and soon offended the older woman. The older woman was annoyed and became somewhat perfunctory in her teaching.
Su Yao had no interest in farm work to begin with, and when she did work, she was absent-minded and clumsy, even less capable than a toddler. Seeing this, the old woman simply stopped caring and started working on her own.
After some time, the brigade leader came to inspect the educated youth's work. When he got to Liu Cui and Su Yao, he found that their progress was far behind the others, and they didn't seem to be working very seriously.
The captain frowned and said to the old woman, "How did you teach them? How did they end up like this?"
The old woman was already seething with anger, and when she heard the brigade leader's accusation, she immediately started to throw a tantrum: "Brigade leader, don't wrong me! These two girls, one of them talks without thinking, which makes me so angry; the other can't even do the work as well as a child, how am I supposed to teach her? I don't want to serve her anymore!" As she spoke, the old woman began to list all the faults of Liu Cui and Su Yao.
The captain's face darkened further upon hearing this. He turned to Liu Cui and Su Yao and said sternly, "You two, reflect on your behavior! You're here to train, not to cause trouble!"
Liu Cui and Su Yao lowered their heads, not daring to utter a sound. They knew they had indeed done poorly this time, and felt somewhat remorseful.
The team leader then said to the old woman, "No matter what, as the person in charge, you still have to take responsibility and can't just abandon this responsibility."
Although the old woman was unwilling, she dared not disobey the brigade leader's orders, so she had no choice but to continue instructing Liu Cui and Su Yao.
After a day's work, the new educated youth dragged their tired bodies, covered in mud, back to their settlement, each looking as if they had just gone through a tough battle. Wang Qin and Wu Lan were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, the clatter of pots and pans creating a unique symphony.
After the meal, the new educated youth sat in the courtyard, while the older educated youth began to share their experiences and techniques for doing farm work.
Li Hua smiled and said, "When weeding, you have to apply force in the direction of the grass roots so that you can pull them up by the roots, otherwise they will grow back in a few days." Zhao Yu nodded repeatedly after hearing this, realizing why he had been working so hard today.
Li Peng continued, "There's a proper way to sow seeds. The spacing and depth of the seeds need to be carefully controlled, otherwise the seedlings won't grow well, and the harvest will be affected." Liu Hao seemed thoughtful and said he would study hard.
Zhao Gang also shared, "You can't flood the soil with water; you have to water it slowly and let the water seep into the soil."
Besides sharing farming skills, the former educated youth also reminisced about amusing anecdotes from the past. Chen Qiang enthusiastically recounted, "Once, we were working in the fields when we encountered a wild rabbit. Everyone chased after it, and it was quite a lively scene." Zhou Min added with a laugh that although they didn't catch the rabbit and everyone fell down, they still had a good time. Wang Qin also recounted the tense experience of suddenly having to rush to harvest wheat when it rained. Wu Lan mentioned that although she was exhausted, the sense of accomplishment was great when the wheat was finally harvested.
As the new educated youth listened, smiles gradually appeared on their tired faces. Immersed in these stories, they temporarily forgot the day's fatigue.
However, Su Yao's mood remained heavy. Looking at the blisters on her hands, she was filled with regret for forgetting to wear gloves. Her aversion to farm work and the injuries made her even more disgusted with life here. She blamed everything on external factors, especially feeling that Lin Qian was the source of her misfortune. Remembering how Widow Liu had asked Lin Qian for gloves, and how she had not only failed to embarrass Lin Qian but had also been scolded by the village chief's wife and lectured by the brigade leader, she felt utterly humiliated.
"It's all Lin Qian's fault!" Su Yao thought bitterly, but refused to admit her own mistake. Looking at the 4-centimeter note, she sighed helplessly. Just then, Zhao Yu came over to comfort her, his hands covered in blisters, yet he still tried to encourage Su Yao. Lin Qian earned 6 work points, her expression calm. Liu Cui proudly boasted about her 8-centimeter achievement and cast a provocative glance at Lin Qian, who ignored her.
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